12/19/22 Monday 6 am

If you have plans to drive to the midwest this week you will really want to pay attention to the weather. We have been cold here in SW Colorado. The good news is, it is not going to get any colder here than we have already been in the coming week. In fact, the overnight lows are going to moderate slightly.

That can’t be said about eastern Colorado and the midwest. The coldest air of the year is on the way. The bad news is, still no precipitation is in our forecast in the lower elevations, with just a chance of a little snow in the mountains this week.

Here are the maps put into motion beginning on Wednesday at 5 pm through Saturday 12/24 at 5 am.

Before I post that, I have zoomed in on the start of the video to explain what you are looking at.

Notice the very thick black line bisecting Wyoming from northwest to southeast diagonally across the state. That line is actually several lines packed together and it separates the very cold air to the north from the more “mild” air to the south. The blue is snow, the darker the blue the heavier the snow.  The blue lines represent the depth of the airmass. Each successive line represents colder air than the previous. The tighter those lines are stacked together the windier the conditions will be. Keep all of that in mind as you watch this.

How cold? Here are the forecast highs for Thursday afternoon.

Here are the overnight lows for Friday morning.

After Thursday, temperatures will begin to moderate, but reinforcing shots of cold air will linger in Iowa and Minnesota through Christmas weekend.

It is still too early to look very far ahead. I hope that after this arctic airmass moves east, the models will be able to articulate a more reliable long-term forecast. Here is a snapshot of  North America on December 27.

Look at all of these low-pressure systems in the Northern Pacific (I circled in blue) that could become potential storms for us in a more favorable zonal flow. No promises for now but I am watching.

I am going to be tracking this cold outbreak all week. Feel free to hit me up with travel questions. Click the blue link to reach me. I do not check Facebook and I don’t check my special email for videos very often. But I get instant notifications if you use the link in blue.

I will be posting at least once a day until Friday this week.

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